And yes, as predicted, people are coming back from holiday, people are going away, this could last until the end of the month.
meanwhile, analogy for slowness number 3246: working in licensing is like steering a glacier
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Friday, August 01, 2008
French holidays and the Prisoner's dilemma
I was talking to my brother about the French and their unanimous August summer holiday and he said it reminded him of The Prisoner's dilemma:
Two suspects are arrested by the police. The police have insufficient evidence for a conviction, and, having separated both prisoners, visit each of them to offer the same deal. If one testifies ("defects") for the prosecution against the other and the other remains silent, the betrayer goes free and the silent accomplice receives the full 10-year sentence. If both remain silent, both prisoners are sentenced to only six months in jail for a minor charge. If each betrays the other, each receives a five-year sentence. Each prisoner must choose to betray the other or to remain silent. Each one is assured that the other would not know about the betrayal before the end of the investigation. How should the prisoners act?
The classical prisoner's dilemma can be summarized thus:
Both stay silent: Each serves 6 months
Prisoner B Betrays: Prisoner A gets 10 years and Prisoner B goes free
Prisoner A Betrays: Prisoner A goes free and Prisoner B get 10 years
Both betray: Each serves 5 years
The parallel with the summer holiday is this: if we all go away for August, nobody missed anything, nothing really happens, we all have a lovely holiday.
Some of us go away for August and some of us stay behind: some of us have a lovely holiday but worry about missing work, and some of us find work impossible because nobody's around.
None of us go away for August: we all get to carry on working efficiently.
On this basis, i think i prefer the French style vacations in option 1
Two suspects are arrested by the police. The police have insufficient evidence for a conviction, and, having separated both prisoners, visit each of them to offer the same deal. If one testifies ("defects") for the prosecution against the other and the other remains silent, the betrayer goes free and the silent accomplice receives the full 10-year sentence. If both remain silent, both prisoners are sentenced to only six months in jail for a minor charge. If each betrays the other, each receives a five-year sentence. Each prisoner must choose to betray the other or to remain silent. Each one is assured that the other would not know about the betrayal before the end of the investigation. How should the prisoners act?
The classical prisoner's dilemma can be summarized thus:
Both stay silent: Each serves 6 months
Prisoner B Betrays: Prisoner A gets 10 years and Prisoner B goes free
Prisoner A Betrays: Prisoner A goes free and Prisoner B get 10 years
Both betray: Each serves 5 years
The parallel with the summer holiday is this: if we all go away for August, nobody missed anything, nothing really happens, we all have a lovely holiday.
Some of us go away for August and some of us stay behind: some of us have a lovely holiday but worry about missing work, and some of us find work impossible because nobody's around.
None of us go away for August: we all get to carry on working efficiently.
On this basis, i think i prefer the French style vacations in option 1
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